Pet books we like...

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Peanut Butter Cream Sandwich Cookies...

Cookies! Who can resist them? Certainly not us if you take a look at our cookie recipe section. We have another one to put on that long list with these Peanut Butter Cream Sandwich Cookies I made for us a couple days ago to snack on.

These two or three (if you're lucky!) bite-sized sweet sandwiches are loaded with peanut butter - we used a creamy variety inside the dough and to add a little texture, we used chunky for the filling. The dough for these cookies is in between being sticky and dry - moist enough to hold the balls of dough together, but not so dry they fall apart when rolling smooth. To get that classic criss-cross pattern on top, the balls of dough are flattened with the tines of a fork - to help the fork release, it is dipped into shallow dish of granulated sugar before pressing the next ball. This also has the benefit of adding a little extra sparkle to each cookie once baked.

Once cooled, half of the cookies are given a dollop on their flat bottoms with a cinnamon-infused frosting. Using a mound of marshmallow fluff (creme would be acceptable), this frosting is decidedly creamy, yet the nuggets of peanuts from the chunky peanut butter add a delightful contrast. Now, I did leave an ingredient out of this filling because I couldn't wrap my mind around it - it called for adding a touch of ground cumin. I was tempted to use it, but when I asked Jeff's opinion before tossing it in - he stuck his pinky into the filling and responded with "this is already good enough - please don't ruin my cookies!". Oh well... I should have just kept quiet! So, if you're feeling a little adventurous, toss in a quarter teaspoon of the smoky spice and let us know if he was wrong!

The first day, the cookies were crisp, but still had a lovely give to them. After sitting a day or so, they absorbed some of their centers' moisture and softened slightly - I think we both actually preferred them that way as the nutty filling tended to squish out when top and bottoms were more crisp. Dainty, but assuredly addictive, I was planning on giving a plate of these away, but I was vetoed out of that idea and the few that are left have been stashed away for a speedy treat down the road.